Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.

The writers against religion, whilst they oppose every system, are wisely careful never to set up any of their own.

Wise men will apply their remedies to vices, not to names; to the causes of evil which are permanent, not the occasional organs by which they act, and the transitory modes in which they appear.

The nature of things is, I admit, a sturdy adversary.

It is undoubtedly the business of ministers very much to consult the inclinations of the people, but they ought to take great care that they do not receive that inclination from the few persons who may happen to approach them.

A disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman.

To reach the height of our ambition is like trying to reach the rainbow; as we advance it recedes.